n “1 
A NEW GENUS OF AGENIELLINI 
FROM CENTRAL AMERICA 
(HYMENOPTERA: POMPILIDAE: PEPSINAE)* 
By Marius S. Wasbauer 
Analysis and Identification/ Entomology 
California Department of Food and Agriculture 
Sacramento, California 95814 
The spider wasp tribe Ageniellini is a diverse and successful 
group in the new world. The Nearctic species are assignable to 
three genera, Phanagenia Banks, 1933, Auplopus Spinola, 1841 
and Ageniella Banks, 1912. None of these genera is restricted to 
the Nearctic Region. 
Phanagenia comprises African and Oriental species as well as a 
single Nearctic representative. Auplopus is cosmopolitan with a 
number of species in temperate and tropical America. Ageniella 
is restricted to the New World. It is the largest genus of the tribe in 
North America with thirty-six species reported from north of the 
Mexican border. The Nearctic species of Ageniella have been 
placed in four subgenera (Townes, 1957) and the Neotropical 
species in seven, four of them confined to the neotropics (Evans, 
1973). I do not consider the subgenus Ameragenia with represen- 
tatives in extreme southern Texas and Florida to be a Nearctic 
element. Although figures are not available, there are probably 
more species in the Central and South American segment of the 
Ageniella fauna than in the North American. 
In addition to Auplopus and Ageniella there are five additional 
genera in the neotropics, Phanochilus Banks, 1944, Priocnemella 
Banks, 1925, Mystacagenia Evans, 1973, Dimorphagenia Evans, 
1973 and the genus described below, which are all apparently 
confined to that region. 
An explanation of the abbreviations used in the following de- 
scriptions is given by Wasbauer and Kimsey (1985:4) and is sum- 
marized here. 
* Manuscript received by the editor March 25, 1987. 
181 
